30 Pieces of Silver
by SophieSaulie
Summary: A sequel to Heaven is a Place on Earth. Dean finishes his leaps and returns. Cas suggests a plan involving Sam.


**30 Pieces of Silver**

**A sequel to Heaven is a Place on Earth**

Sam was growing desperate. Dean had been gone for hours and no matter how much he had called out to Castiel, he got no answer. If Bobby hadn't been there, Sam would have felt completely abandoned.

"Will you PLEASE sit down? You're making me seasick," Bobby complained.

"I can't, Bobby. Dean's been gone for hours and I don't know where to start to find him!"

"He's fine," Castiel finally appeared.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Sam yelled, a flash of anger that startled Bobby, if not Cas, but the reaction didn't go unnoted by him.

"I have been following him, making sure he's safe."

"And you couldn't have told us that?" Sam continued to yell.

"I would have lost his trail if I had," Cas said eerily calm, but his body tensed at Sam's accusations.

"What happened? Where is he?"

"Dean has been transporting. At the moment he has no control over where he is going. This is normal."

"There is nothing 'normal' about what's happening to him! Where did he go?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. It is one thing to transport together as we have done in the past. It's another when it's done on one's own. I am not privy to where he is going, just able to follow his trail when he leaves. I can tell you that he is unharmed."

"Is he coming back? Can he come back?" Bobby asked.

"Yes, he will return. He just needs to understand how to control his jumps."

"Can't you help him?" Sam asked, his tone more worried now.

"It's a learned process. You begin to feel what's needed to head where you need to go then anchor there. As I said, he is unharmed."

"If you're here does that mean you've lost his trail?" Bobby asked.

"No, it just means he's traveled into the past. Without knowing when, I can't follow him there. Once he returns to the present, I'll be able to pick up his trail again."

Sam began to pace again and Bobby could only roll his eyes.

"You heard him, Sam. Dean is fine. He just needs to find his own way."

Sam could only nod. Bobby looked over at Cas and flashed a look just between them that spoke of concern and it wasn't for Dean.

**oooo**

Dean felt more than the usual vertigo that he had felt in his other jumps. It was so disorienting that he had to throw up. He took in a few deep breaths then things started to feel normal, however normal felt jumping into whatever the next town would be. This time though, everything felt different. He took a look around and didn't recognize anything. He tested his legs and was able to walk so he started to survey his surroundings. Why would he pick this place? He couldn't explain it, but something inside of him was telling him that he should be wary, his gut tightened, his nerves were heightened. It was almost like something was telling him he wasn't supposed to be here.

As he walked, he heard voices. He crept closer to them, making sure that they didn't know he was there. As they got louder, he recognized them and it gave him a shiver. Sam and Ruby.

"Come on, Sam, let's put this demon on ice and get out of here. What's bugging you now?" Ruby said impatiently.

Sam looked like he was about to be physically ill. He raised his hands up to look at them. They were shaking.

"I almost killed him…" Sam said shocked. "I couldn't stop...I wanted my own brother dead."

Dean stiffened remembering that awful moment and hearing Sam's words gave him a sharp ache in his chest, feeling unable to breathe.

"Sam, you were angry. You add that to the demon blood –" Ruby tried to convince, Dean knowing it now as the lies she told to lure Sam down his dark path towards Lucifer.

"I can't blame just the blood…I wanted Dean to trust me, to take my side and when he wouldn't, when he told me not to come back…all I felt was anger…even hate. I've never felt that about Dean. Never."

Dean listened and he no longer felt the sting of betrayal, just sadness for not having had the faith that Sam had needed then. Thanks to Bobby, he had seen how selfish he had been and he blamed himself for pushing Sam over the brink. He heard Sam's genuine shock and horror at what he had done and felt only forgiveness and understanding.

He thought about confronting Sam and Ruby, but bitter experience reminded him that he couldn't change the past, just make himself better learning from it. He had vowed that he would look at Sam differently, to treat him as someone who deserved to be treated as his own man. He had put the past behind him.

Pain assaulted him again, much more than he had ever experienced and it had brought him to his knees. The world swirled again then blackness.

**oooo**

Sam kept pacing. His nerves were electric, adrenaline was rushing into his veins. He was scared, as scared as he had been watching Lucifer rise from his cage. The only thing that had kept him calm was having Dean there to grab on to, feeling him tug at him to get them both out of there. He didn't have anything to hold onto now other than his own fear.

"I found him!" came a voice from the yard.

Sam ran out and saw Bobby wheeling up to a prostrate Dean. Sam went down to turn Dean over.

"What happened?"

"Don't know. Heard a moan, headed toward it and found Dean like this." Bobby said, the helplessness he felt in his voice.

Sam lifted Dean into his arms and brought him into the house. He laid him on the couch, another moan coming from Dean as he did.

"Dean? Can you hear me?"

Dean came into consciousness slowly. He saw Sam and took in a deep breath of relief, smiled and nodded.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked.

Dean swallowed and nodded again. "Just…tired," was all he uttered before he fell unconscious again.

"He needs rest. He'll be fine," Cas said behind Sam.

"Will he leap again?"

"I don't believe so. I sense that he's found his answers."

"What answers?"

"About what to do next."

"And what's that exactly?" Bobby asked.

"Saving the world," Cas said cryptically before he disappeared.

**oooo**

After Sam put Dean into one of Bobby's rooms, he sat in a nearby chair, unable to leave him, afraid that Dean would leap out again, but with his own exhaustion demanding sleep, Sam complied resisting.

Castiel then appeared in the room and placed two fingers on Dean's forehead. Dean then found himself awake in a white room, Cas standing in front of him.

"Did I-?"

"No, I needed to talk with you," Cas said. "Alone."

Dean's concern and suspicions were raised.

"Why? What's happened?"

"Nothing yet, but you need to know. Sam has been exploring the idea of becoming Lucifer's vessel."

"What? Why?" Dean asked, fear and worry showing in his posture.

"He feels it's the only way and so do I," Cas said.

"What?" Dean said shocked.

"Hear me out, Dean," Cas said. "While you were gone, Sam was understandably worried about you, but he was also angry, angry that he was helpless to do anything. I felt in him something powerful. Even without demon blood, he exuded a darkness that gave me pause."

"Okay, all that sounds like is an argument AGAINST Sam becoming Lucifer's vessel."

"I believe that just as you resisted Michael, Sam has the potential to resist Lucifer once Lucifer has taken him."

"How do you even know that Sam is even thinking about doing this? Did he tell you?"

"No, I sensed it. It's one of the few gifts I still possess. Sam feels like a failure for allowing Lucifer to rise. I'm sorry to say, I've thought of him that way as well, but I understand now that Sam wants to redeem himself. Still, he lacks confidence to believe he is strong enough. He also needs you to tell him you believe he can overcome Lucifer or if he can't, that you'll still be his brother."

Dean swallowed and understood.

"I get that."

"Remember when I told you that I didn't envy the choices you would have to make? Though I didn't know what those choices would be, I did know that the both of you would have to face your destinies. You have rewritten yours. Perhaps Sam, also, can rewrite his."

Dean nodded. Cas then released him. Dean awoke seeing Sam asleep in a chair and found his eyes welling. Could he face losing Sam again? Could he accept it? Could he deny Sam the chance to redeem himself? After all, Dean had been doing the exact same thing for his time in Hell and for what he had done to Sam. Could he set aside his need to have his brother around for the sake of the world? In another lifetime, the answer would have been an absolute no. He would let the world end than live in a world without Sam in it. Now, he knew better and now, it was about Sam, not about him. Cas had been right. Sam needs a chance to rewrite his own destiny. Free willl, it was what he was selling to Sam all along. As much as it hurt him, he had to give that to him.

Sam stirred then opened his eyes. He saw Dean getting up to sit on the bed.

"Dean, you okay?"

"Yeh, I'm good, Sammy."

"Then can we talk?" Sam said, his voice so much like the little boy of Dean's fondest memories.

"Yeh, we need to talk."

**FIN. Another sequel to come. Don't know if I'll make it by the finale this week, but hope it will measure up to expectations. Thanks for reading!**


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